Revealed: Cristiano Ronaldo almost fought with Jose Mourinho at Madrid

A new book titled Cristiano Ronaldo: The Biography, written by Spanish sports journalist Guillem Balague revealed that Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho almost came to blows after falling out with each other during their days together at Real Madrid.

Mourinho, the present Chelsea manager managed Real Madrid between 2010 and 2013 and had a strained relationship with his fellow Portuguese during his latter time at the club.

The incident occurred after Real Madrid’s Copa del Rey quarter-final clash with Valencia in January 2013.
Mourinho was not happy with Ronaldo for his failure to track back during the second half of the game and Madrid leading 2-0.
After the game, the two argued furiously and nearly came to blows in the dressing room.

Balague wrote in the book, “Mourinho, whose blood was no longer boiling by the time he reached the dressing room, reminded Cristiano of the reason for the instruction on the pitch: ‘If they get a goal against us…’”

“The player, unable to contain his fury, got up from the bench where he was changing and began shouting, ‘After everything I’ve done for you, this is how you treat me! How dare you say that to me?!’”

Cristiano & Mourinho had a strained relationship on the pitch

“As he could see Cristiano had no intention of calming down, he gradually retreated. Soon after, he approached the forward again to resume the conversation with less tension. But Ronaldo fired back angrily. Mourinho was unable to contain himself any longer.
“Just so you know,’ he shouted for everybody to hear, “many think like me here, but don’t dare say it, they don’t have the balls to tell you.”

Many of the players who witnessed the scene had demanded that Mourinho, either directly or through the coaching staff, ask Ronaldo to defend more. The situation escalated to the point where Cristiano had to be held back by some of his team mates to prevent the pair from coming to blows.

“Ronaldo took what should have been understood as a tactical comment as a personal attack. The relationship between Mourinho and Ronaldo would never be the same again,” Balague further wrote.